[Dog Boy]

Went up last night about 7.30pm. Every table but the one near the bathrooms was full.

Word from one of the guys working the floor is that they will likely fill the qualifiers on Saturday. Much busier than they anticipated.

I played two $75's last night and each wait was over an hour. The first game, I had aces cracked on the river; on the second game I did it to someone else!

I got my qualifier on the second game.

Of the 10 people playing the second game, five were good players. Two were obv. dead money from the start. Another two had some idea of what they were doing (eg. not limping in every hand), and then we had the obligatory folder who blinded himself out until he got A10 to my AK.

There was a fair amount of shoving with any pocket pair. Also, if you can identify the timid players, you can steal some nice pots.

One hand I min. raised the BB, who only had 800. Blinds were 50-100. She calls. Flop is rags with a queen. Action: check/bet 400/call. Turn another rag. She checks, I bet 200 (to put her all in) she folds.

Another hand (I'm big stack still). I raise, dude to my right calls. Flop is jack with rags. I make continuation bet, he min. raises, I call. Turn check/check. River is a 5, giving straight if you have A3 (not likely). I shove with nothing. He twists his face, bluffs a muck to get a reaction from me. When he gets nothing, he folds. I owned him for the rest of the game.

When we got down to three players and the blinds were 500-1000, the player on my right started shoving every time he was in the small blind and the button had folded (most hands), the strategy was very effective. I had to attack the guy on my left because he was timid at this point and he would only play BB.

My biggest error was three-handed. I decided to limp for once with my pocket 4's, and the dude passed me on the flop.

Aggression is key to this game. Avoid limping!